Our buddy, Bev Perlson, sends us a link to an article about US forces rescuing Dr Dilip Joseph who was abducted by Taliban thugs earlier this month in the Surobi district of Kabul province. During the rescue seven Taliban were sent to their maker;

A security source told AFP that the doctor had been involved in building clinics in Afghanistan but details of his capture were not immediately available.

Hazrat Mohammad Haqbeen, the district governor of Surobi told AFP that the man was kidnapped along with an Afghan colleague who was released in return for a ransom earlier in the week.

And “today the American national was freed in an operation. We don’t know the details of the operation,” Haqbeen told AFP.

[…]

Seven of the doctor’s captors were killed in the operation, which involved combined US and Afghan forces, he said.

I’m sure Afghan president Hamid Karzai will complain about how this operation will hinder peace talks with the Taliban who are now known for their ability to shoot 14-year-old girls in the face and kidnapping doctors who are trying to help the Afghans.

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Helluva job but I have to wonder what in the wide, wide, world of sports, the do-gooders were thinking. I mean, did they ever think beyond their noses who, besides themselves, might be at risk if they were abducted? I don’t get it. I’m sure they’ll be rightly praising their rescuers now but what if some of their rescuers had been killed? And what now of the villages that welcomed the American do-gooders? Do you think that the Taliban will just let bygones be bygones? (Or am I just pissed because the Raven lost to the blasted Redskins and have the worst quaterback in the NFL?)

Since the force isn’t named and article didn’t have “an unnamed official said that NAVY SEALS WHO ARE SUPER AWESOME AND TOTALLY COOL AND NAVY SEALS NAVY SEALS NAVY SEALS NAVY SEALS” in it any where backed by banner to click for SEAL workout DVDs and push-up paddles I can only assume it was Delta. 🙂

This is from our local Denver media, it looks like we did lose someone in the rescue:

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is praising U.S. special operations forces, including one who was killed in action, for the rescue of an American citizen who was being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Obama says the mission was characteristic of U.S. troops’ “extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism.”

A spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Dr. Dilip Joseph of Colorado Springs, Colo., was rescued Sunday in eastern Afghanistan. Joseph was abducted by the Taliban five days earlier.

In a separate statement, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says the “fallen hero, and all of our special operators” represent the “highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service.”

I’m with 2-17 AC. These NGO’s wade into the 7th century and expect to have their rights and persons respected. The Taliban does not give a tinkers damn about niceties of 21st century civil or human rights. It ought to be understood that no matter how noble their mission they are in a war zone where there are no non-combatants as far as the savages are concerned. They volunteered to be kidnapped, killed, or worse. Go ahead and wander around in a kill zone, but be warned, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. Your misguided hide is not worth the loss of even one American warrior. They should be forced t

This is why the men who went in to save these doctors are called heroes. While people like you or I might say, “The hell with them! They knew the risks, they signed the waiver,” there are those who will always step forward, regardless of the risk, knowing it could cost their own lives, and say, “Let’s go get ’em!”

Certain endeavors carry great risk to one’s personal safety. When a person is fully aware of the risk, proceeds with the endeavor, and is harmed, he is said to have assumed the risk. In another vein, when a flood or other calamity is imminent and residents in harm’s way are urged to evacuate, some official usually informs them that they are on their own if they choose to remain the danger area.

Now we are faced with the case of Dr. who was rescued from his abductors by, it appears, members of a SEAL team, one of whom was killed in the rescue. That the SEAL team members are to be saluted and thanked for their valiant efforts is not in doubt. The ability to do the impossible seems to be standard fare for them. My issue is not with them but with the doctor and those like him who take great risk with eyes wide open and then, when the predictable happens, need rescuing at the risk of harm to others. Something about that bothers me, and it bothers me a lot.

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We are all military combat veterans and we write primarily from that perspective. Everyone who writes here has a Combat Infantry Badge, a Combat Medic Badge, a Combat Action Badge or a Combat Action Ribbon. We write about issues that matter to combat veterans..read more »